Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method therefor, and a storage medium, and in particular to a Wi-Fi handover technique for an image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, NFC (near-field communication) which is one of near-field wireless communication technologies (contactless communication technologies) has been in widespread use in various fields. NFC enables communication in a very short range and provides control to establish a wireless link when communicating devices are put close to each other within several centimeters and disconnect the wireless link when they are moved away from each other. Communication between NFC-enabled devices is enabled only by putting them close to each other. For this reason, NFC is receiving attention and going into actual use in various fields since it offers various services for users who own NFC-enabled devices. For example, there is a service which uses a device equipped with an NFC tag and a mobile terminal equipped with an NFC tag reader/writer and enables a user to know detailed statuses of the device by seeing the mobile terminal while he or she stays at the location of the device.
Also, based on information such as a URI scheme, an SSID, and an encryption key written in an NFC tag, an arbitrary mobile application is started, and Wi-Fi handover is performed. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2013-45462 discloses a technique to automatically select and execute an application that matches tab information read from an NFC tag.
Since mobile terminals such as smartphones and tablet terminals have more excellent operability, responsivity, and visibility than those of an operating unit in a main body of an image forming apparatus, using those mobile terminals as a lower-cost alternative to an operating unit of an image forming apparatus using wireless communication including NFC is being contemplated. Also, various mobile terminal solutions which expand existing functions of an image forming apparatus are being contemplated, and in the future, an increasing number of mobile terminals are likely to be operate in collaboration with image forming apparatuses.
A pull scanning function of causing an image forming apparatus to scan and send by remotely controlling it using an application on a mobile terminal has already been made public. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-344687 discloses a technique according to which a user processes and edits an image read by an image reader, converts the image into an image format suitable for a communication terminal or the like, and sends it to a mobile terminal or the like.
A pull scanning function of an image forming apparatus is host-driven and generally processes operation setting requests from external devices in the order in which they were received. If an NFC-enabled image forming apparatus is allowed to receive pull scanning instructions at the same time from a plurality of external apparatuses such as mobile terminals and PCs, a problem described hereafter may arise.
First, when a first user uses a pull scanning function while a second user who uses a pull scanning function is setting a reading mode, an image read by the second user using an image forming apparatus may be passed to the first user.
On the other hand, when a user is using an image forming apparatus, providing exclusive control to reject an operating setting request from external devices for a predetermined period of time will increase a time period for which other users have to wait and may decrease usability and availability of the image forming apparatus.
Moreover, a pull scanning function uses an ADF (auto document feeder) in an apparatus main body, and hence it is necessary to consider how to implement exclusive control in a case where a resource conflict occurs in the apparatus main body without decreasing usability and availability of the image forming apparatus.